PE
by Lost my Marbles
Summary: It's a story about Lily and James. One of those LJ stories that are normal in a crazy way, kinda random at parts... Romance in later chapters. Enjoy! I think you will...ON HOLD
1. Lily Evans

(A/N: This story is not really going to be mushy or dramatic, so if that's what you came for, don't read this. This story is more of a easy-going type. Also, I'm not going to pester you to READ AND REVIEW! If you want to, you read. If you want to, you review. I accept constructive criticism. The first four or five chapters aren't so interesting, but bear with me! Thanks for reading! Enjoy!)  
  
(A/N: Plus, I know that Sirius' eyes are gray, but since blue just fits his character in this story.)  
  
Disclaimer: Everything that you recognize belongs to J.K. Rowling or somebody else. Anything that you don't recognize belongs to ME!  
  
P.E. Summary: This is just a story how my friends and I pictured Lily and James' life. It's got a bit of everything. The beginning is a bit (no, seriously!) boring but I realized that so I made it more interesting in Ch. 7. Just bear with me.  
  
Chapter One: Lily Evans James leaned over a bowl of some silvery substance...and he was going down...down...down...  
  
Lily Evans was a perfectly normal girl. She had a-little-longer-than- shoulder-length wavy auburn hair and brilliant green eyes. She had a perfectly normal sister, Petunia, who was two years older than her. They were pretty much alike, except Petunia had blonde hair and a hard-to-figure- out color for her eyes and a horsy sort of face. They were the best of friends, but they couldn't be anymore different from each other. Lily was quiet, and Petunia was loud  
  
One day, on Lily's tenth birthday, May 17th, a mail arrived for Lily, and Petunia, as usual, was sent to get the mail. She saw the mail addressed to Lily and kept it with her, and not showing Lily, for a reason unknown. When Lily was out at school one day (Petunia was 'home sick') Petunia carefully looked at it and saw the stamp: "Hogwarts."  
  
"Now, what the heck is this supposed to mean?" Petunia whispered to herself.  
  
One day, at breakfast, Petunia got out the letter and showed it to her parents.  
  
"It's for Lily," she said simply.  
  
Mrs. Evans opened it up with Lily watching with interest.  
  
"What is it mum?" asked Lily.  
  
Mrs. Evans gasped. "I never thought—no one in our entire family has ever been—what?—I can't—I—wow!—My own daughter!—"  
  
"What is it mum?" repeated Lily impatiently.  
  
"Oh, Lily, darling, deary, this is what the letter says. Miss Lily Evans, you are excepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"  
  
Mr. Evans leaned forward. "Is this some sort of sick joke?"  
  
Mrs. Evans looked at him like he was dripping in some sort of mucus. "Of course it's true! Do you remember the time when Lily turned the chocolate cake into apple pie because she doesn't like chocolate? It was magic!"  
  
"Just throw the letter away Mum, it obviously is a joke," said Petunia. Everyone ignored her.  
  
Lily, Petunia, and Mr. Evans stared at Mrs. Evans, hardly daring to believe it. "Does this mean, um, what I, er, think it means?" choked Lily. "Am I a—a—a witch?"  
  
"Yes dear!" sang Mrs. Evans. "Here, let me read the rest—Term begins September 1st. We await your owl no later than July 31st. Oh, that's today! And what does it mean 'we await your owl?'"  
  
Suddenly, an owl flew in through the window. Lily caught the letter it was holding and read it out loud.  
  
"Dear Miss Lily Evans, my name is Mrs. Potter and I was told by the Headmaster of Hogwarts, Professor Albus Dumbledore, that you are a witch. Congratulations! Anyway, I am sending this to you because I am going to be your new neighbor! My son, James, is going to start Hogwarts too and he comes from a family of witches and wizards so he knows all about this, and I thought that I could help your family out with all the books and supplies you'll need. We're moving in today so you can just come visit around noon if you have any questions. Signed, the Potter family. Mum, can I go visit the Potters?"  
  
Mrs. Evans had a smile on her face. "Yes, maybe later," she croaked.  
  
Petunia was jealous. Lily already got so much attention from Mum and now she has to go and become a witch. But Petunia and Lily were sisters. How come Petunia didn't get a letter? Life was so unfair, especially if your sister was a witch.  
  
Lily was ecstatic. Finally she could leave her mum's annoying ways and make new friends at this school "for witchcraft and wizardry." How cool is that? She heard the clock ring one o' clock. She leaped up and went to go see the Potters with her mum.  
  
Lily made her way to the Potters' front door and rang the bell. A young boy about her age with messy black hair and wonderful chocolate brown eyes opened the door.  
  
"Hi," he said. "You must be Lily. I'm James."  
  
"Come in Lily and Mrs. Evans!" shouted a voice from somewhere off in the house. "We were just about to send the owl for you saying that you'd be coming to Hogwarts. No actually, I just did send the owl. Don't worry about it any more! Now we're going to go pick up the school stuff at Diagon Alley."  
  
"That's my mum," explained James, gesturing to somewhere inside the house.  
  
"Let's go," said Lily's mum.  
  
Mrs. Potter led everyone to the fireplace. She scooped out a handful of some dust and explained, "This is Floo Powder. We use it to travel. Mrs. Evans, I'm afraid that you cannot travel by Floo Powder because Muggles are not able to. They'll get burnt if they try."  
  
"What're Muggles?" asked Lily.  
  
"They're people who aren't magical," explained James.  
  
"Oh," said Mrs. Evans with a sad smile on her face. "I suppose you'll take great care of Lily. Anyway, I have to go see to Petunia. She's feeling a bit sad that you're leaving, Lily. Bye dear!"  
  
With that, she left.  
  
"How do you use Floo Powder?" asked Lily.  
  
"You step into the fireplace and drop the powder and say where you want to go and it'll take you there," said James. "Don't Forget to speak clearly. I'll show you—"  
  
"No, James, take Lily with you." Interjected Mrs. Potter.  
  
"I—okay."  
  
James stepped into the grate and Lily followed him. He held his arm around her and threw some powder. "Diagon Alley!" he yelled.  
  
Suddenly the fireplace disappears from James' view and is replaced with a new memory.  
  
(A/N: Ok, if you didn't get it, James is looking at all of this thru Lily's pensieve. I have over twenty chapters of this story done already and I'll put a new one on every week. Tomorrow, I'll just give you chapter two. I'm not going to force you to review, but it would be nice...) 


	2. Diagon Alley

Disclaimer: Everything that you recognize belongs to J.K. Rowling or somebody else. Anything that you don't recognize belongs to ME!  
  
bPE/b  
  
A/N: Thanks to my lone reviewer...  
  
bpadfoot-crazy: you are my favorite person in the whole world at the moment! You actually reviewed!/b  
  
Chapter Two: Diagon Alley  
  
James finds himself among the bustling crowds of Diagon Alley.  
  
Lily stepped out of the grate and she saw James follow her. "Where are we going now?" Lily asked Mrs. Potter.  
  
"To Gringotts," Mrs. Potter replied.  
  
"What's Gringotts?" Lily asked.  
  
"It's a wizarding bank," James answered. "Wizards only have one bank and it's here, in Diagon Alley."  
  
Lily nodded. "But wait!" she suddenly remembered something. "I...I don't have any money!"  
  
"Dumbledore already thought about that," Mrs. Potter said. "He knew the Muggle-borns wouldn't have any money to buy their school stuff with, so he convinced the Ministry of Magic to set up an account just for Muggle- borns."  
  
"What're Muggle-borns?" Lily questioned.  
  
James groaned. "Ugh, new people. You have to explain everything."  
  
"Be quiet James," Mrs. Potter scolded. "Why don't you tell her what they are?"  
  
"Fine. Muggle-borns are witches or wizards born from Muggle families. You ought to be careful. You're a Muggle-born. Some wizarding families don't like Muggle-borns and call them filth. Don't give anyone reason to call you filth."  
  
"Can wizarding families have babies that are not witches or wizards?" Lily asked curiously. "Like, you know, the opposite of Muggle-borns."  
  
"Yeah, they're called Squibs," James explained. "Mum says Apollyon Pringle, the caretaker at Hogwarts, is a Squib."  
  
"Oh I do not!" said Mrs. Potter, blushing red. James smirked.  
  
Soon, Lily, James, and Mrs. Potter collected all their school supplies, except their wands. "Come on, Lily!" called James. "The best place to get wands is over there: Ollivanders!"  
  
Lily and James walked inside. The place was full of little boxes and seemed to be deserted. "Hello?" called Lily. "Hello!"  
  
Suddenly a sliding ladder slid out of nowhere. An elderly man was riding it. "Ah."  
  
"Come to get your wands, I see?" the man said. "I shall take the little lady first..."  
  
Lily stepped forward hesitantly.  
  
Mr. Ollivander picked out a box and opened it. Inside was a shiny new wand. "Try this." He handed the wand to her. "Give it a wave..."  
  
Lily waved it. Nothing happened. Mr. Ollivander gave her another one. "How about this?"  
  
Lily waved it. Nothing happened. This continued on for about ten or eleven or even twelve different wands. Each time Lily tried, nothing happened and Lily began to doubt her magical abilities. Perhaps Dumbledore had gotten the wrong girl. Perhaps it was Petunia who was actually the witch...  
  
And then, it happened. The perfect wand. Mr. Ollivander called it "Swishy, good for Charm work." This wand was the one. When Lily touched it, she felt the magic.  
  
"That'll be seven galleons," Mr. Ollivander announced. Lily paid and James stepped up. It only took about two or three wands to find the right one for James. James too paid and left with Lily.  
  
"Now that we're done, where do we go?" James asked.  
  
"Are there any bookstores around?" Lily bit her lip. She just adored books.  
  
"Yeah, there's one nearby, Flourish and Blotts, look!" James pointed to a street corner where there was a brightly-lit shop that was really big. "Let's go!"  
  
James and Lily went into the huge shop full to the brim with books. James immediately went for the joke and prank books. Lily just followed him. James touched a book called "Pranks for all occasions" exactly at the same time a boy with straight black hair and blue eyes and a cheeky grin touched it.  
  
"Hi!" greeted the boy. "I'm Sirius Black. You like pranks too? I guess we're going to be great friends!"  
  
"Hi!" James replied. "I'm James Potter. I'm going into Hogwarts this year!"  
  
"Me too!" said Sirius. Lily watched them with amusement until she spotted a large purple book that said "Hogwarts, A History."  
  
Well, I'd better read that, thought Lily, I'm just going into Hogwarts and I know nothing about it. This book will definitely help, won't it?  
  
So Lily picked it off the shelf and sat down on a bench right next to James and Sirius and started reading, ignoring the two boys that were right in front of her.  
  
James and Sirius talked a lot about themselves first. James found out that Sirius came from a family of all witches and wizards, purebloods, and how his whole family hated Muggle-borns, but Sirius wasn't like that. Sirius and his cousin Andromeda, were the only two people in their whole family that supported Dumbledore.  
  
Then they went on to talking about pranks that they pulled. It was rather pointless really, but fun for them.  
  
Then it was time for James to leave. "Sirius, have you seen Lily anywhere?"  
  
"Lost her have you?" Sirius asked playfully.  
  
"No, I just...oh there she is!" James found her sitting on the bench, reading Hogwarts, A History.  
  
"I'm DONE!" Lily announced, startling James out of his wits.  
  
"Oh, jeez, Lily do you HAVE to do that?" James muttered. "Anyway, Sirius wants to see you. He wants to introduce himself properly." James dragged Lily over to Sirius.  
  
"Lily, this is Sirius, Sirius this is Lily," James introduced.  
  
"Nice to meet you mademoiselle," Sirius pecked Lily's hand.  
  
"Oh I like your friend, he's cute," said Lily, giggling. James rolled his eyes.  
  
"Hey, Sirius," said James. "How about you come to my place until school? Lily's my neighbor and we can play Quidditch and...all sorts of stuff?"  
  
"I'll go and ask Andromeda..." Sirius was off in a second. Barely two minutes later, he was back. "She—said—yes." Sirius clutched a stitch in his side. "I—can come."  
  
James led Lily and Sirius around Diagon Alley looking for his mother. "There she is!" he said, spotting coming out of Quality Quidditch Supplies.  
  
"Hi you all!" greeted Mrs. Potter. "Who's this stranger?" she asked, pointing to Sirius.  
  
"I'm Sirius Black," said Sirius. "Pleasure to meet you."  
  
"The pleasure's all mine!" Mrs. Potter laughed.  
  
"I'm staying over the summer," announced Sirius.  
  
"Okay!" Mrs. Potter said. "Well, anyway, it's time we get back. So who's going to take Lily through the grate this time?"  
  
"I don't need—" Lily began.  
  
"Ooh, me! Me! Me!" Sirius bounced up and down.  
  
Sirius stepped into the grate followed by Lily. He threw some Floo Powder in and yelled, "The Potters' house!"  
  
Lily felt that familiar swirl and she traveled through a whirlwind of colors again.  
  
James was being transported into another memory.  
  
-----  
  
A/N: Ok, here's ch. 2. Sry, it's so short and not so interesting, but they'll get better, I promise. Oh yeah, read if you want and review if you want. (Just you watch, in later chapters I'll ask you to READ AND REVIEW! You just watch...)

-Lost my Marbles


	3. Quidditch

**Disclaimer: Nothing that you recognize belongs to me. Ok?  
  
P.E.  
  
Thanks to my two reviewers... **

**Billy**: you'll find out later! Ch.11 or something like that.  
  
**padfoot-crazy**: here's ch.3 for u.  
  
A/N: Nope, there's no Quidditch in this chapter. Sorry if you are disappointed.

Chapter Three: Quidditch  
  
James found himself at Lily's house in a new memory. (A/N: This memory thing isn't going to go on for much longer.)  
  
"Okay, Sirius," Lily said. "This is my house." Petunia then came down the stairs wearing a scowl. "And that's Petunia."  
  
"Nice to meet you, Pet," Sirius said, taking her hand. Petunia blushed as red as Lily's hair. Then she wrenched her hand from Sirius' grip, stuck her nose in the air, and headed out the door with a "hmph!"  
  
"What? Did I say something?" Sirius asked.  
  
"Lily! We're supposed to be at my house!" James whined. "I want Sirius to play Quidditch with me!"  
  
Before Lily could ask what Quidditch was, James grabbed her and Sirius and dragged them over to his backyard. It seemed to have been magically enlarged to fit a whole field with three rings at each end. Obviously a Quidditch field.  
  
Lily asked, "What's Quidditch?"  
  
Both James and Sirius exploded at once.  
  
"YOU DON'T KNOW QUIDDITCH?"  
  
"WHY DON'T YOU KNOW QUIDDITCH?"  
  
"HOW COULD YOU NOT KNOW QUIDDITCH?"  
  
"WHAT PLANET LEFT YOU HERE?"  
  
"WHO DIED AND LET YOU NOT KNOW QUIDDITCH?"  
  
"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU DON'T KNOW QUIDDITCH!"  
  
"HOW IS IT HUMANELY POSSIBLE TO NOT KNOW QUIDDITCH?"  
  
"I JUST CAN'T BELIEVE YOU DON'T KNOW QUIDDITCH!"  
  
"YOU JUST CAN'T NOT KNOW QUIDDITCH! —"  
  
"Be quiet, both of you!" Lily silenced them. "How could you forget already that I have absolutely no knowledge of the wizarding world?!"  
  
James and Sirius didn't know what to say so they just shrugged and went off on a rant explaining Quidditch. They told Lily how it was played on broomsticks, and she got a bit scared at that; she was afraid of heights. They also told her about how it was the most popular sport in all of wizardom.  
  
By the end of their little explanation, Lily was dazed from taking in so much knowledge at once. Little did she know that this was just practice compared to what she would have to learn once she actually got to Hogwarts.  
  
Every day, for the rest of the summer, Lily would visit James and Sirius at their place and watch them play Quidditch. James let her ride a broom once, but the ride only lasted about a minute, because Lily was too afraid to go any higher than the lowest tree branch. From then on, she just stuck to watching them play rather than try herself.  
  
By the end of the summer, Lily, James, and Sirius had become fine friends.  
  
James felt himself being transported to another memory...  
  
A/N: I know, short. But oh well. The next chapter is going to be longer. I know I said I'd put up a chapter every weekend, but I just want to get thru the boring parts. Ok, I'm beginning to feel that I would like reviews. So...review, I suppose. Chapter 4 will be out tomorrow hopefully.


	4. Hogwarts Express and Introductions

**Disclaimer: Nothing you recognize belongs to me.  
  
A/N: Thanks to my following reviewers...  
  
Blue Firefly: Actually, James is in year 4 at Hogwarts and he just happened to stumble on Lily's pensieve and he's just visiting...but you'll find that out later. And yes, Lily will begin to dislike him after a while but you'll find out that later also. Thanks for reviewing!  
  
Super Flying Monkey: Well here's ch.4. I've been reading them thru so they aren't as boring as they originally were...thanks for reviewing!  
  
Well those were my two reviewers...thank you a lot! A lot, a lot. Oh yeah, and thanks to any other reviewers that reviewed that I didn't see...**

**Now on to the story!  
  
P.E.  
  
Chapter Four: The Hogwarts Express and Introductions  
**  
James is swirled into the memory in the Hogwarts Express.  
  
They were some of the last people to board the Hogwarts Express and they couldn't find an empty compartment, but instead found on with one girl in it. The girl had brown hair streaked with blonde, soft gray eyes, and a lonely expression on her face. Her face seemed to light up when she saw Lily, James, and Sirius walk in.  
  
"Can ve sit herrre, señorita?" drawled Sirius, rolling the R's.  
  
The girl blushed and looked down, and then looked up at Sirius. "Sure," she whispered, still blushing furiously. "My name is Renée Morgan."  
  
"I'm Lily Evans."  
  
"I'm James Potter."  
  
"I'm Sirius Black."  
  
Lily took a seat next to Renée and Sirius sat next to James, across from the girls. Then, the compartment door slid open. A boy with sandy brown hair and a studious manner and a girl with blonde hair and blue eyes came and sat down next to James. "Hello," the boy said cheerfully. "My name is Remus Lupin. You don't mind if I sit here do you?"  
  
"And I'm Emily Janifer, could I sit here as well?" asked the girl.  
  
"I don't mind at all!" cried Renée, just as cheerfully as Remus. Obviously she was happy about meeting new people. "I'm Renée Morgan."  
  
"I'm Lily Evans."  
  
"I'm James Potter."  
  
"I'm Sirius Black."  
  
"Wow, a welcoming committee," stated Remus with half a smile.  
  
Just then, the compartment door slid open again and in stumbled a boy with mousy hair and watery blue eyes and was a head shorter than James. He looked dazed for a minute and then said in a squeaky voice, "Can I sit here?"  
  
Everyone looked either Sirius or James, to see their faces, and then Lily said, "Sure, go ahead."  
  
The boy sat down and introduced himself. "I'm Peter Pettigrew," he said.  
  
The introductions started again.  
  
"I'm Renée Morgan."  
  
"I'm Lily Evans."  
  
"I'm James Potter."  
  
"I'm Sirius Black."  
  
"I'm Remus Lupin."  
  
"I'm Emily Janifer."  
  
Peter looked dazed again from hearing so many names at once and then collected himself. "I'm going to be going into first year."  
  
"So am I," rang six voices. Peter looked dazed again.  
  
This continued on for a while until the compartment door slid open again. Three kids with smirks on their faces stood in the doorway. One boy had sleek blonde hair and nasty gray eyes. The other boy had greasy black hair, a large nose, and tiny brown eyes. The girl had sleek black hair tied in a ponytail and fiery blue eyes, strangely like Sirius's.  
  
The blonde haired boy spoke first. "My name is Lucius Malfoy," he drawled with a sneer.  
  
The girl talked next. "I'm Bellatrix Black." Sirius suddenly became very interested in his shoelaces. "I'm a relative of Sirius here," continued Bellatrix.  
  
The greasy haired boy drawled, "And I'm Severus Snape."  
  
Again the introductions began.  
  
"I'm Renée Morgan."  
  
"I'm Lily Evans."  
  
"I'm James Potter."  
  
"I'm Sirius Black." (Bellatrix Black said, "I know.")  
  
"I'm Remus Lupin."  
  
"I'm Emily Janifer."  
  
"I'm Peter Pettigrew."  
  
Only Bellatrix Black was still smirking. "You sound like a support group."  
  
"Well we're here to support your leaving," Sirius replied coldly.  
  
Lucius Malfoy drawled ignoring Sirius, "I've never heard of 'Evans.'"  
  
"I'm Muggle-born, that's probably why," stated Lily, scowling. "James told me about you. You and your pure-blood fancies."  
  
"I don't like that kind of talk, you filthy little Mudblood."  
  
Lily didn't understand what he meant, but it must have been something bad because Renée, James, Sirius, Remus, Emily, and Peter stood up angrily and pulled their wands out.  
  
"Take that back!" yelled Emily.  
  
"I'll curse you," threatened Sirius.  
  
"How dare you!" shrieked Renée.  
  
Lily stood up because everyone else was.  
  
"Get out," said James, shaking with anger.  
  
The trio left. Everyone sat down. Sirius was shaking as well as James. "Stupid cousin," snarled Sirius. "You remember Andromeda? That's her sister. Poor Andromeda, having to listen to something like that everyday...."  
  
"But I don't understand," voiced Lily, "what did Malfoy mean by 'Mudblood?'"  
  
"Um...Lily..." started Emily.  
  
"'Mudblood' is a really foul name for someone who's Muggle-born," continued Renée.  
  
"Really foul," added Remus.  
  
"I mean," put in James, "it's the most foul name you can call a Muggle- born."  
  
"It was terrible," snarled Sirius. "I bet they end up in Slytherin, like the rest of my family. Bet I do too because all the other Blacks have."  
  
"No, Sirius," comforted Renée. "You're not going to end up in Slytherin just because your family was. It's the thought that counts, right?"  
  
"What's Slytherin?" interrupted Lily. Everyone stared at her like she had something nasty smeared on her face. "I mean," she continued quickly. "It's one of the four Houses right? Doesn't it have a reputation for criminals?"  
  
"Yeah, it does," said Sirius dully.  
  
Sirius was in a dull mood for the rest of the journey. When they finally got out, they heard a loud, grunty voice calling, "Firs' years! This way please! Come on now, firs' years! Don' be shy!" (A/N: I'm not sure I have Hagrid's accent right, but work with me here!)  
  
Lily, James, Renée, Sirius, Remus, Emily and Peter all followed this voice. Peter stumbled along the way—no one noticed—and he had to run to catch up to the rest.  
  
"Firs' years!" the voice was still calling. "Come on now!"  
  
Lily spotted a huge man, about twice as tall as a normal man, and at least three times as wide. He had long bristly hair and moustache and beard and was wearing a long, brown overcoat and was clutching a pink umbrella.  
  
"Whoa!" Lily heard Sirius's voice behind her.  
  
"I've heard of him," said another voice, unrecognizable to Lily. "he's Rubeus Hagrid, keeper of keys and grounds of Hogwarts. I think I've read it in a book somewhere." The voice kept talking, "I want to be a nurse when I grow up. Maybe even at this school!"  
  
Lily turned around. "What's your name?" she asked a girl behind her, the one who was talking about Hagrid, and being a nurse.  
  
"I'm Poppy Pomfrey," she said proudly. "Who're you?" she added suspiciously.  
  
"I'm Lily Evans."  
  
"Oy! Who're you talking to?" Sirius's voice came out of nowhere.  
  
"Her name is Poppy Pomfrey!" Lily called back.  
  
"Who was that?" questioned Poppy interestedly. But Lily wasn't able to answer because the crowd moved towards a large lake. Hagrid led everyone to a row of boats.  
  
"Four to a boat!" he called.  
  
Lily, Renée, Poppy, and Peter ended up in one boat. James, Sirius, Remus, and geeky looking girl with pigtails and abnormally large glasses ended up in another. Hagrid had a boat for himself. The geeky looking girl was talking rapidly to a bored looking James, Sirius, and Remus.  
  
The boats were going for a time until they saw the magnificent Hogwarts with its many towers and turrets. The vast black castle was even more beautiful than Lily had expected it to be.  
  
James is caught in light and color changing around him and he is in the Entrance Hall.  
  
**A/N: Ok, so did u like it? The next ch is going to be the sorting and that's when you get introduced to all the characters (well not all of them) so read and maybe, perhaps, possibly...review? Ch. 5 hopefully out tomorrow or day after...**


	5. Sorting

**Disclaimer: Nothing u recognize belongs to me.  
  
A/N: I'm going to take a small break. Expect chapters only on weekends. Thanks to anyone who'll take the time and review this.**

**P.E.  
  
Chapter Five: The Sorting  
**  
The whole crowd of first years made their way in through the double doors where they saw a strict looking witch in emerald green robes and her brown hair in a tight bun.  
  
She explained everything that Lily had already learnt in Hogwarts, A History and instructed them to wait. She came back a few minutes later and led them into the Great Hall. It was beautiful with floating candles hanging in the night sky/ceiling. She had read about it in Hogwarts, A History. The strict looking witch introduced herself as Professor McGonagall. She led the First Years to a raggedy old hat on a raggedy old stool. Suddenly the hat opened near the brim and sang a song about the four Houses and how it sorts students. When the song was over, Professor McGonagall instructed to the First Years to put the hat on when their name was called.  
  
"Afleck, Brianna!" called Professor McGonagall.  
  
A jaunty looking red head walked up and sat on the stool with the hat on. The hat waited only a second before it yelled out "HUFFLEPUFF!"  
  
"Bhurah, Kaitlyn!"  
  
"HUFFLEPUFF!"  
  
"Black, Bellatrix!"  
  
"SLYTHERIN!"  
  
Sirius was standing next to Lily and she felt him slink down. "What's the matter?" Lily asked.  
  
"My family wants me to be in Slytherin too." Lily understood.  
  
"Black, Sirius!"  
  
Sirius walked up. He looked extremely nervous as he put the hat on. The hat was "thinking" for a whole minute and Sirius had a pained expression on his face until the hat yelled finally, "GRYFFINDOR!"  
  
Sirius looked immensely relieved. He ran over to a girl two or three years older than him with similar blue eyes and black hair. "Andromeda! I did it!" he shrieked. The girl was cheering like the rest of the Gryffindors.  
  
Now "Callahan, Kenny!" was being sorted. He went to "RAVENCLAW!"  
  
"Chider, Jessica!"  
  
"HUFFLEPUFF!"  
  
"Evans, Lily!"  
  
Lily was shaking as she walked up to the hat. She put it on with caution. "Well, a smarty one aren't you?" said a small voice in her head. "You would fit well in Ravenclaw, but what's this? Bravery? Well! You should belong well in GRYFFINDOR!"  
  
Lily was excited. She practically ran to the Gryffindor table where Sirius, who was just as excited, hugged her. "Yay Lily!"  
  
"Figg, Arabella!"  
  
"HUFFLEPUFF!"  
  
"Goyle, Gregory!"  
  
"SLYTHERIN!"  
  
"Grandle, Christopher!"  
  
"RAVENCLAW!"  
  
"Gully, Myran!"  
  
"SLYTHERIN!"  
  
"Hefson, Melissa!"  
  
"RAVENCLAW!"  
  
"Janifer, Emily!" Lily jerked her head in the direction of Emily, now walking up to the Sorting Hat with no expression on her face.  
  
"GRYFFINDOR!" Emily smiled and bounded up to sit next to Lily. Lily hugged her really excitedly. So far, so good!  
  
"Jordan, Larry!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"  
  
"Lestrange, Rodolphus!"  
  
"SLYTHERIN!"  
  
There was a squeak of delight from the Slytherin table after Rodolphus joined them; he was "good-looking," as a sly Slytherin cared to put it.  
  
"Lockhart, Gilderoy!"  
  
"HUFFLEPUFF!"  
  
"Lupin, Remus!"  
  
Lily jerked her head away from the Slytherin table. Remus was being sorted. The sorting hat barely waited a second before yelling "GRYFFINDOR!"  
  
Lily and Sirius both threw their arms around Remus, who looked positively dazed.  
  
"Malfoy, Lucius!"  
  
Sirius turned abruptly with a look of fury on his face as Malfoy walked up. The hat barely touched Malfoy's head when it rang out, "SLYTHERIN!"  
  
"Mesa, Jordan!"  
  
"RAVENCLAW!"  
  
"Morgan, Renée!"  
  
Once again, Lily turned to look. Renée was carefully walking up to the hat, holding her head high. The hat took a bit longer to announce, "GRYFFINDOR!"  
  
"Renée! Renée! Renée!" chanted Lily. "You made it!"  
  
"Yeah!" sighed Renée. "The Sorting Hat actually considered putting me in Hufflepuff. You know, Hufflepuff! Do I seem like a Hufflepuff to you?" she added angrily.  
  
Lily shrugged.  
  
"Rosenthall, Kevin!"  
  
"RAVENCLAW!"  
  
Renée sighed again. "He was cute," she said airily. "It might've been nice to get that Kevin boy in Gryffindor."  
  
"Renée..." Lily shook her head. "You fall for boys too easily."  
  
"Pettigrew, Peter!" shook Renée and Lily out of their conversation. The Sorting Hat took two or three minutes before Peter was sorted into "SLYTHERIN!"  
  
Peter burst into tears as he walked to the Slytherin table. Remus shook his head. "He was a good one. Maybe we can still be his friend. Well, make him part of the club. But we don't have to talk to that dolt too often because he's in Slytherin."  
  
"Yeah," added Sirius. "He's a dunderhead. I'd be surprised if James agreed to that."  
  
"Pomfrey, Poppy!"  
  
"That's the girl I met on the boat!" squealed Lily.  
  
"HUFFLEPUFF!"  
  
Poppy went and joined Arabella Figg at the Hufflepuff table who was giggling madly.  
  
Lily was interrupted by "Potter, James!"  
  
Lily shot her head to look at James walking up to the Sorting Hat with no real expression on his face. He sat down, put the hat on, and waited. He waited only a few seconds, though, because the brim of the hat opened wide.... "GRYFFINDOR!"  
  
It seemed that James had gotten the most applause. He sat down next to Sirius who was next to Lily. On the other side of Lily, Remus was sitting quietly.  
  
"Prewett, Molly!"  
  
"RAVENCLAW!"  
  
"Quenton, Quentin!"  
  
"RAVENCLAW!"  
  
"Ramble, Ariel!"  
  
"HUFFLEPUFF!"  
  
"Ratt, Miranda!"  
  
"SLYTHERIN!"  
  
"Skeeter, Rita!"  
  
"GRYFFINDOR!"  
  
"Snape, Severus!"  
  
The greasy haired kid walked up and sat on the stool.  
  
"SLYTHERIN!"  
  
"Sprout, Manella!"  
  
"HUFFLEPUFF!"  
  
Lily found her mind wandering. The Sorting was getting boring and she was hungry. Would they finish anytime soon? She heard Professor McGonagall call out the rest of the S's and the T's.  
  
"Umbridge, Dolores!"  
  
Lily turned her head. A squat girl with a toadlike face walked up with a smile and snatched the hat and roughly put it on her head.  
  
"RAVENCLAW!"  
  
"Vestra, Dandle!"  
  
"RAVENCLAW!"  
  
"Weasley, Arthur!"  
  
"GRYFFINDOR!"  
  
Arthur Weasley had vivid red hair and he was the most noticible First Year that there was, apart from Molly Prewett, who also had red hair.  
  
"Zabini, Brianna!"  
  
"SLYTHERIN!"  
  
"Zabini, Zachary!"  
  
"SLYTHERIN!"  
  
That ended the sorting. Professor McGonagall rolled up the parchment, picked up the Hat, and disappeared off to somewhere. An old man with long, flowing, silver hair and beard stood up. The Hall went silent. "I have a few words to say to you all," he stated, "but now is not the time for them. Dig in."  
  
Suddenly, the plates in front of them filled with food. It was the best meal that Lily had ever eaten. She even managed third helpings of everything. Then there came dessert. She managed apple pie with vanilla ice cream, and some mints that she had never seen before.  
  
-----  
  
James had seen all of this through Lily's Pensieve. He couldn't believe how vividly Lily remembered all this stuff that had happened three years ago. The First Years were walking through the corridor to greet the Fat Lady for the first time. Lily was coming up the corridor this way. Suddenly, an older fourth-year Lily was coming up the corridor that way. She looked angry. "James Potter!" she shrieked. "What in the name of Merlin are you doing in my Pensieve?"  
  
"I—well, I—um..."  
  
"Arrgh!" she screamed. "When I think I have privacy! I'm going to take you back RIGHT NOW! And don't let me EVER catch you in here again!"  
  
She waved her wand and James was back in the Common Room where he started before he touched his wand to Lily's Pensieve.  
  
"I'm sorry Lily," apologized James.  
  
"It's okay," Lily decided, but she still seemed a bit angry. "I mean, it's only reasonable for you to be curious. I didn't realize that I had left it out. I mean, usually it's in the girls dormitory."  
  
Lily and James were good friends. They were in fourth year. It was late at night and Lily hadn't realized that James was still awake. She had brought her Pensieve out into the Common Room to go over her thoughts.  
  
James was a real prankster. He and the rest of the Marauders (James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter) were the group of pranksters and were also very popular. James was a nice guy. Sirius was funny. Remus was the smart and sensible one. And Peter was in Slytherin. He was still part of the group, though, since James decided that he was good enough. He doesn't pull pranks with the rest, but he is still in on all of their plans. Sirius and James have gotten more detentions than anybody else in history. Sirius's record is currently 397 for the four years that they were at Hogwarts. James's is 349. Sirius is a flirt. Ask anybody. The girls all around (except for Lily, Renée, and Emily Janifer) had at least once fallen for either James or Sirius and made a fool out of themselves.  
  
Lily walked up to her dormitory with her bowl of Pensieve. Emily Janifer was still awake but Renée and Rita Skeeter were asleep. Emily had seen James follow her into the Common Room.  
  
"So how'd it go?" Emily asked with a smile on her face.  
  
"Well, things went fine," replied Lily, "except James was there. You knew that didn't you?"  
  
"Yeah," answered Emily.  
  
Emily had a huge crush on James. She always was commenting on how "hot" he looked. Lily was thinking about this and she slowly fell asleep.  
  
(A/N: I feel like making some of it first person so here it is...( And by the way, POV stands for Point of View.)  
  
**Lily's POV----**  
  
I always put thoughts in my Pensieve. But tonight was the night before the Quidditch match against Ravenclaw. I thought the Quidditch team would be getting their beauty rest, I mean, it's like midnight. Who would be up? Little did I know that James was awake. I went to wander around my Pensieve. I was watching the time when we first became part of Hogwarts. Hogwarts is my life, and I was just reliving the moments when I first realized that. Petunia, my sister, is a prat. She is jealous or something, I mean we were good friends before. Then when I got the letter she's been acting like a jerk to me.  
  
When Sirius came that first time to my house, she looked positively lovestruck. I think she has a crush on Sirius. I told him that and he said, "Gobbledegook!" and waved me off. Whatever.  
  
Anyway, when I was in the Pensieve I was coming down the hallway and then suddenly I saw James. I was thinking, I don't remember him being here...and then he saw me. Memories don't see. So then I knew that a certain James Potter had been snooping in my Pensieve. I just lost it. I yelled at him and brought him back and scolded him. Then he apologized. That's what brought me back to senses. I decided to accept the apology the nice way. I forgave him. Then I talked to Emily. Talking to Emily always calms me down.  
  
**A/N: So that's ch. 5. What do u think of first person? Well, ud better get used to it because the rest is pretty much all in first person. So, read and hopefully review...**


	6. Letters and Unhappiness

**A/N: This has got to be one of the shortest chapters ever written. Well, sorry about the delay...  
  
Chapter Six: Letters and Unhappiness  
  
Lily's POV  
**  
At breakfast, I met Renée. Then the Marauders walked in. At the usual morning post, I got a letter from my parents and one from Petunia...  
  
Dear Lily,  
It's your parents. We just wanted to say hi and see how you were  
doing. Also, we enclosed a little gift for you from Petunia. We just  
wanted to say we love you. You know, just like that. So be sure to  
have fun and all of that in all your classes. Take help from friends  
if you need any. Petunia is sending a letter soon too. You shouldn't  
be too hard on her; she's just jealous. It'll take her a while to get  
used to it. (Even though it has been four years.) Definitely don't  
Forget us.  
Goodbye!  
Love,  
Mum and Dad.  
  
Dear Freak,  
Dad made me write a letter to you. Well, I just sent you a gift  
for your birthday, since I missed it. I only sent it to you because  
you got me that PS2 for my birthday. I found your gift at some weirdo  
shop with freaky junk. I figured I should pay you back, but only this  
time.  
Bye freak.  
Petunia.  
  
I opened Petunia's package. Inside were two mirrors and not just any mirrors. If you said someone's name in it, they would appear and you could see what they were doing. And if that person had a mirror like this, you could talk to them. It was pretty cool. I wrote a thank-you note to Petunia and I wrote a reply to my parents and sent them with Tunia.  
  
The next morning wasn't on such a happy note. In fact, it was not so great. First, James spilt a bowl of punch on my head, so my already-red hair turned pink. Next, Renée had breakfast with Sirius (don't ask me why) and she came back with spagetti sauce on her shirt and then suddenly Sirius tripped over me with a bowl of spagetti (with sauce on top) and guess who the bowl (full!) just happened to land on! And also, James decided suddenly that sneaking up on me is funny and I spill orange juice down my shirt. So I go up to the Common Room all wet and yucky.  
  
But the day after that is a day I'll never Forget. At breakfast, I'm in a fairly happy mood. But Tunia comes with an owl from the Ministry of Magic. It had a big "M" on it. What the heck was the Ministry of Magic doing sending letters to me? Anyway, I opened it up and gasped.  
  
**James POV**  
  
So Lily just opens up this letter from the Ministry and she gasps as she reads it. I'm like, what the heck? And then she runs from the Hall in tears the whole way. What the heck was up? I'd never seen Lily cry. It was scary. Lily is like this person who's too strong. Renée obviously sees her crying out too because she follows her and I follow Renée. We decide the Common Room is the best place to find her and what do you know? Lily's crying her eyes out in one of the squashy armchairs. Renée rushes to her.  
  
"Oh Lily!" Sweet, caring, kind Renée says in her soft soothing tone. "What happened? Tell me all..."  
  
"My—my—my parents!" sobbed Lily. "They're dead!"  
  
Renée read the letter. "Murdered by 'Lord Voldemort?' Who's Voldemort?"  
  
I interrupted. "I've heard of him." Lily gave a sharp intake of breath. She probably didn't notice I was there. "He's this dark wizard that's been doing all the killings of Muggles and Muggle-borns and families. Haven't you heard?"  
  
Renée looked thoughtful. "Actually, yes I have..."  
  
Lily stopped crying. "Renée, can you help me?"  
  
"With what?"  
  
"Just...just keep me calm."  
  
"Lily's not going to take her parents' deaths as a calm thing," I interrupted.  
  
"Right," agreed Renée.  
  
**Lily's POV**  
  
I got a letter from Petunia saying that Vernon's (her friend) had adopted me and her. We have to live with them now, and no magic. Life is so unfair. Renée stupidly pointed out that my life is growing worse by the day. Like I needed her to figure that out. Anyway, before I knew it, the school year was over. James had dated 21 girls that past year. Our year and younger. Sirius had dated a sixth year who was a head shorter than him. James was over himself sometimes with his "good looks." I don't like that side of him.  
  
On the train, the Marauders and Renée and also Emily Janifer, who was my other best friend, decided to escort me to Vernon's house. I must say, I was pleased. So I agreed. Things were actually pretty fun on the train ride back. I think that the guys were just trying to make me feel better after my parents' deaths and me having to go live you-know-where.  
  
Vernon and his family didn't even bother to try and pick me up from King's Cross, so if my friends hadn't volunteered to drop me off, I would have had to live there. Stupid Petunia. Speaking of Petunia, she seems rather happy about our parents' deaths. Probably because she can just live with her "best-friend" Vernon. Petunia seemed to have fallen for Sirius. Everytime he visited, she acted weird. Hopefully, the same would happen now.  
  
**A/N: Ok, so read and review, please...!**


	7. What's with Vernon?

**A/N: This is kinda funny...  
  
Chapter Seven: What's with Vernon?  
  
Sirius POV  
**  
Lily seemed disturbed about living with "Vernon." God, maybe this guy is like her sister. Ahh! It's like having two Petunias! God, that girl follows me around like chocolate syrup to vanilla ice cream (don't ask, Prongs made it up). What if Vernon does too? Eww! Gay! No wonder Lily was upset! Who wouldn't be? (A gay fourteen year old, what is this world coming to?)  
  
**Remus' POV**  
  
Suddenly Sirius got a disgusted look on his face. I asked him why and he said, "You don't want to know..."  
  
I persisted, and finally he led us out to an empty compartment and said, "Why couldn't that dim nut Peter have sat here? He said that there were no seats available!"  
  
"To the point Sirius! The others are already watching us curiously."  
  
Sirius sighed annoyingly. "Vernon...is gay."  
  
I gasped. "How do you know?"  
  
"It just makes sense doesn't it? Don't spread it around."  
  
"What? This is just a rumor?"  
  
"No!"  
  
"Then what?"  
  
"It's so true! Don't ask me how I know, I just do!"  
  
"Really Sirius."  
  
"I'm serious."  
  
"Well, I know that one, I mean, I can't go for four years being one of your best friends, not knowing your name—"  
  
"No! I mean 'serious' with the 'e.'"  
  
"And the 'o'," I added.  
  
"Whatever!"  
  
"Sirius, I'm not spreading a rumor—"  
  
"I'm not asking you to spread it—"  
  
"—I'm not believing it either—"  
  
"Why not?—"  
  
"Sirius!" I finally shouted.  
  
"What?"  
  
"I'm not believing a rumor like this, nor am I spreading it. I have no idea why you told me—"  
  
"Oh I can answer that one...you asked me what I was thinking about...so this is all your fault!" Sirius had a smirk to match Bellatrix's on his face.  
  
"Wha—it's not my fault!" I yelled indignantly.  
  
"Is too."  
  
"Is not."  
  
"Is too."  
  
"Is not."  
  
"Is too!"  
  
"Is not!"  
  
"Is too!"  
  
"Is not!"  
  
"IS TOO!"  
  
"IS NOT!"  
  
"SHUT UP!" yelled a voice from outside. "GOD!" James came bursting into the compartment. "WHAT KIND OF ARGUMENT IS THIS? I WAS HOPING TO COME AND HEAR SOMETHING WORTHWHILE!"  
  
Sirius fake-gasped. "You were spying!"  
  
"Was not!" yelled James.  
  
"Was too!" Sirius yelled back.  
  
"Was not!" James yelled again.  
  
"Was too!" Sirius had a gleeful grin on his face as he yelled at James.  
  
"Was too!" James said suddenly.  
  
"Was not!" Sirius clapped a hand to his mouth, knowing that he lost.  
  
"What were you telling Remus anyway?" asked James.  
  
"That Vernon's gay."  
  
"WHAT? How do you know?"  
  
"SHHH! Lily will hear..."  
  
"According to him," I put in, pointing at Sirius, "'it just makes sense.'"  
  
"I want Pringles." It was Sirius.  
  
"Well, we don't have any, so deal with it," spat James nastily.  
  
"What's going on?" Lily walked in.  
  
"Sirius wants Pringles."  
  
"Pringles? Whatever." Lily walked out.  
  
"Yes, Pringles, whatever they are." James was glancing at Sirius who was fake-crying on floor yelling, "Pringles! Pringles!"  
  
"One more thing Sirius," I stated. "Vernon is NOT gay. So don't spread it around. You too James. If Vernon hears...I hate to think what they'll do to Lily."  
  
The train slowed to a stop thankfully, so Sirius didn't have time to dwell on Pringles, whatever they are, or Vernon. We all got out of the train carrying our trunks. They were very heavy.  
  
"Right," Sirius was muttering to himself. "Not gay. No. It's out of my head now."  
  
"Totally out." James was muttering too. "Not gay."  
  
Sirius and James finally seemed to be getting the hang of it.  
  
**Sirius' POV**  
  
Remus is right. Vernon probably isn't gay. But one's suspicions might be aroused...wait! Petunia doesn't even follow me around anymore! So Vernon isn't gay! Yay! Hey! Hey! Gay, yay, and hey all rhyme!  
  
**James POV**  
  
I have no idea why Sirius thinks Vernon is gay. The idiot. Of course Vernon isn't gay. Petunia wouldn't be living with him then. The fool of a Black. God, he needs help. Vernon isn't gay. That's all there is to it.  
  
**Lily's POV**  
  
The Marauders minus Peter have been in on this "secret" or something and they've been acting really weird. I don't get it. Well, anyway, we all get off the Hogwarts express and what do we see? Well, I should say, what don't we see? Well, we don't see a sign of Petunia or Vernon or anybody that Petunia is friends with. That—that—I'm thinking of bad names for her. Well, we rode the Hogwarts Express back to London without any disturbance from the Slytherins. That was a first.  
  
As I was saying, Vernon and Petunia didn't come to pick me up so it was a good thing that my friends were dropping me off. Renée, Emily, and the Marauders minus Peter all talked to their parents and it was agreed that the five of them would take me to that wretched Petunia. In my world, she was the freak.  
  
So we ended up on a Muggle bus, since Remus wouldn't let us do anything else. Sirius was having total fun. He was watching all the shops and stores as we passed them. Everytime he saw a store that had an "S" in it he would poke me. Everytime he poked me, I said "Oww!" Each time I said "Oww!" everyone turned to look at me. Everytime everyone turned, someone would pull the lever to stop the bus. Everytime it stopped with a jerk, I would say "Oww!" And then everyone turned, and so on.  
  
Remus found the whole ordeal amusing. James was on my side (the side that says "Oww!"). Sirius was on the lookout for shops with S's. Renée was cuddling up next to Remus (Remus didn't notice). Emily was next to Renée, chatting with her non-stop.  
  
When we finally got off the bus at the plaza near where Vernon lived (Number Four, Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey) Sirius spotted a Pringles truck. He ran after it and was lost in the crowd. When we finally saw the Pringles truck again. Sirius was chasing it. In the middle of the road. Cars flew this way and that, trying to save Sirius. Horns honked. Sirius didn't seem to notice. Neither did the truck driver. The next time we saw the Pringles truck, Sirius was hanging on to the bumper, his face was flat in the back of the truck.  
  
"Oh..." said James. "Pringles are chips!" He gave us a thoughtful look. "Hey I want some too!" And he ran after Sirius. We gave up the chase and the Pringles truck came back with both Sirius and James on the bumper. The truck drove up to us. He shook off Sirius and James, who were now begging for Pringles (he shook them off by giving them each a box of Pringles) and drove away.  
  
Finally, through lots of crunching and munching, did we reach Vernon's house. Renée, Emily and I were jabbering away, as Sirius kindly put it, until we reached the house. Right, and the Marauders minus Peter (I'm just going to refer to them as the Marauders) weren't talking at all. (I'm being sarcastic.)  
  
Anyway, Sirius bounded up and rang the doorbell. I like Sirius better than the other Marauders. He just does whatever he wants, no matter what anyone thinks. I think that this is because of his family; they treat him like frog spawn. Plus, as an added bonus, he is pretty cute...but the only problem is...he goes out with every girl in the whole school and he is never stuck to one for more than a week. Like, last week was Emily. She was head-over- heels for him and he dumped her. Of course, she forgave him (I dunno how) but that's Emily for you. Renée, on the other hand, was for Remus. Of course, Remus was sensible and didn't date a load of girls like James and Sirius, but he was still something to Renée and I guess that would be a cool match.  
  
Now who do the boys like? Well, Remus is a man of mystery. Nobody really knows much about his love life. But from what I can tell, he likes Renée, which is good news for her. And how about Sirius? He dates so many girls...and I can't figure at all who he likes. What of James? He is pretty much the same as Sirius...a total girl dater. He doesn't show that he likes anyone...yet.  
  
As I was saying, we ended up on Vernon's doorstep and Sirius rang the bell. Petunia opened the door and blushed a little when she saw Sirius and called for everyone else to come. Mr and Mrs. Dursley of number four Privet drive came up to the door and I introduced myself as Lily (obviously). And Sirius came next.  
  
"I'm Sirius Black—" he shook Mr. Dursley's hand, "—and I would be delighted to stay at your place for a couple of days along with my friends! Thank you for inviting me!"  
  
Mr. Dursley looked dumbstruck and then launched himself at Sirius, who stood there expectantly. "We didn't invite you!" he roared.  
  
At once, Sirius, James and Remus each pulled out a funny looking Zonko's weapon; Sirius, a lethal stick; James, a odd black hook; Remus, a shiny ball. It seemed that no Dursley wanted any of these things near them so they easily agreed to Lily's friends staying. Petunia was the only one still pouting.  
  
"Come on Vernon, don't spend time with my sister or her friends, They'll give you a hole in your head."  
  
"That can be arranged," smirked Sirius.  
  
"It's an expression," I said quickly.  
  
"I've never heard it," said Remus, looking thoughtful.  
  
"That's because Petunia comes up with the weirdest little phrases."  
  
"Like what?" asked James quizzically.  
  
"Like a hole in your head."  
  
"Huh?" said Sirius stupidly.  
  
"Never mind!"  
  
**A/N: How did you like that chapter? Read and review, please. And thanks to all reviewers.**


	8. Fifth Year and Sirius' Prank

**A/N: This is a really long chapter. Thanks to all reviewers...  
  
Chapter Eight: Fifth Year and Werewolves  
  
James' POV**  
  
Well, our days at Vernon's were pretty cool. We pulled two pranks, one where Vernon's hair turned pink in the shower, and another where Petunia turned into a watermelon. It was pretty funny. You just had to be there to like it.  
  
Anyway, we were entering our fifth year at Hogwarts and I wouldn't be seeing Lily too much over the summer. Oh well. I've got Melissa Hefson from Ravenclaw spending the summer at my house. She's pretty cute (and she keeps complimenting me). She likes my hair, my face, my...I'll stop there (I'm not supposed to be complimenting myself in this story). Anyway, she really fed me about myself. I think that's why Lily didn't like me anymore. She said I was being a "wee bit conceited" and she stopped spending time with me. When she does, she constantly talks about Sirius. God that is annoying. My crush on Renée disappeared when Remus told us all about what he thinks of her. I could easily have taken Renée before Remus, but I can find another girl just as easily, while Remus isn't so outgoing. When he makes up his mind, he makes up his mind. And there's no changing it.  
  
My new crush is Lily. I hope she doesn't mind that. She's starting to hate everything I do. It really bugs me, but obviously I don't show it. Why would I? I've decided that I want to play a prank on her, to pay her back for all the things she says to me. Only a mild prank...I think I'll ask Sirius.  
  
**Sirius' POV**  
  
James asked me for a prank to pull on Lily. A mild one. I'm like, whoa! James likes Lily, why would he prank her? But James' mind works in weird ways so I decided to think about one for her.  
  
**Lily's POV**  
  
I don't know what happened to James over the summer! Maybe it was that stupid Melissa Hefson's fault. She's really knows how to kiss up to people. The thing that annoys me the most is that he ruffles his hair around me! I think he's just doing it to annoy me!  
  
**James' POV  
**  
I've decided not to prank Lily. But just then Sirius comes up to me with a huge smile on his face. "Got one!" he says.  
  
"Got what?" I asked, completely confused.  
  
"A _prank_, bludgerhead."  
  
Oh right. I'd forgotten that I'd asked him. Look at my memory.  
  
"Okay," stated Sirius. "This is what we'll do. When Lily first—"  
  
"No, stop Sirius."  
  
"Why? Okay, so when Lily first—"  
  
"No, I mean, I don't want to prank her."  
  
"Prank who? Anyway, so when Lily first—"  
  
"No!" Sirius can be so stupid sometimes. "I don't want to prank Lily!"  
  
"Who said we were pranking Lily?" asked Sirius stupidly.  
  
"Well, who's your prank for then?"  
  
"Oh! It's for Renée! Remus asked me to come up with a prank for Renée since she turned his face blue."  
  
"So why are you telling me?"  
  
"I dunno!"  
  
"WELL?"  
  
"Well what?"  
  
"Why don't you go tell Remus?"  
  
"Great idea! I don't know why I didn't think of that before! You're smart! Is this why you're the leader of the Marauders?"  
  
"Just go tell Remus your little prank. And it better not have anything to get Lily hurt. I don't want to prank her."  
  
"Sure."  
  
And he went to talk to Remus who was doing Defense Against the Dark Arts homework.  
  
I've decided to tell a few things about us, the Marauders. Well, Remus. He's a werewolf. For the first couple of years at Hogwarts, Remus just kept disappearing once a month. He just told us lame excuses like "My auntie is ill!" or "My cousin is having a baby!" or some other excuse.

They got lamer by the month. Sometimes he couldn't keep his excuses straight. Anyway, we realized that everytime Remus disappeared, it was the time of the full moon. Well, what else? He was a werewolf. But why didn't Remus tell us? That's besides the point. We decided that Remus shouldn't have to go through his transformations alone. So we decided to become Animagi. Werewolves are only dangerous to humans. We tried to become Animagi since third year. It hasn't worked yet. But I have a feeling that the next time we try, it will work.  
  
Now about Sirius. He comes from a family of total Slytherins, except for his cousin Andromeda and his Uncle Alphard; they were in Gryffindor. But Sirius has to cope with this Slytherin thing everyday. His brother, Regulus, was sorted this year into Slytherin (what a surprise) and Sirius has had a harder time than usual. He sent me a letter saying that he wouldn't be surprised if he spent next summer with me. I told him that it's fine and my parents would understand perfectly.  
  
Peter. He's a wart. Just...a wart. That isn't to say that he's not a nice Slytherin. He isn't mean to people and he doesn't hex everyone (like me, I just have fun).  
  
Now about me. I like Lily. She has beautiful emerald green eyes (emerald green is my new favorite color) and fiery red hair, just like her temper. The only problem is...she hates me. Suddenly. She doesn't like anything I do. She called me "an arrogant bullying prat who hexes everyone in his line of vision." Do I seem like that sort of person? No, but if I ever intend to win Lily, I'll have to change. ("Like that's ever going to happen," as Sirius kindly put it.)  
  
So on Sunday night we sneaked off and became Animagi. I won't go into the gruesome details, but Sirius was a great, shaggy black dog, Peter was a squeamish rat, and I was a stag, but I don't know how I looked. Sirius decided that we should come up with names for ourselves. Like nicknames. So Remus's Moony, Sirius is Padfoot, Peter is Wormtail, and I'm Prongs. Cool names. Totally Sirius.  
  
**Sirius' POV**  
  
One day, Snivellus (A/N: Just for the people who don't know...Snivellus is what the Marauders called Snape) came up to me as I was walking. The other three Marauders had taken Moony to the Hospital Wing.  
  
"Snivellus," I snarled.  
  
"Well, I've just seen your Mudblood girlfriend, Black."  
  
"You better not have hurt her."  
  
"Actually I did. She wasn't prepared."  
  
"What did you do?!"  
  
"I disfigured her."  
  
"Oh. My. GOD! She's gonna get her revenge I hope you know!"  
  
"I know, and I'm prepared for it."  
  
How dare that (bad name) hurt Lily?! She didn't do anything to him. All she ever did was stand up for him. And now he disfigured her. We've been disfigured before and it wasn't good. Lily will definitely have a hard time. I'm going to do something to him.  
  
I ran up to him and he said, "Why were you taking Lupin to the Hospital Wing? Where does he go every month?"  
  
"You really want to know?" I answered nastily. "Well, just go up to the Whomping Willow tomorrow night and take a long stick and prod the knot on the trunk. Then the whole tree will freeze and you run in through the hole and to the end of the passageway to find out." Maybe Moony will finish him off for us.  
  
**Lily's POV**  
  
I was completely disfigured. My leg was where my arm should be and my nose was where my ear should be and my eye was where my other arm should be and my body was all confusing. Luckily I could still talk. "RENÉE! EMILY! HELP ME!"  
  
I was calling for a while, "ANYBODY! I KINDA NEED HELP HERE!" and then I heard someone coming up to me. I couldn't see properly at all so I just shut my eyes when they lifted me.  
  
"Whoa Lily!" It was James. I could recognize that voice anywhere. "What happened?"  
  
"I'll explain later," I rushed on quickly. "Just—just get me to the Hospital Wing fast!"  
  
And he rushed over there and Madam Perry fixed me up quickly. She said all was fine and I could leave. On my way out, I spotted Remus on one of the beds. He was sleeping. I decided not to ask.  
  
I barely walked out of the Hospital Wing when I bumped into someone. It was James again. He ran his fingers through his hair as soon as he saw me. That really irritates me. I tried to shove my way around him but he held my shoulders and asked, "How did you get disfigured?"  
  
"Let go of me!" I shouted. He let me go immeadiately.  
  
"So who disfigured you?" James asked earnestly.  
  
"It was Snape."  
  
**James' POV  
**  
"It was Snape," said Lily.  
  
"SNAPE?" I shouted. What did Lily do to him that made him curse her? All she ever did was stand up for him! How could he? Just then, someone tapped me on the shoulder. Guess who it was. I turned around abrubtly.  
  
It was Sirius. "Don't worry Jamesie," he stated with a smirk. "I've already taken care of it."  
  
I was about to ask what he did, but McGonagall came up and sent us to our dormitory. When we reached, I completely forgot about Snape.  
  
"We're going to test our map," whispered Sirius, so only I could hear. I nodded. I was excited. This was our final test of the Marauder's Map. It was going to have all the secret passages and all of those. Also, it would show people moving around as little dots. Even if you're wearing an Invisibility Cloak. Tomorrow the Marauders minus Remus would test out this map by using it to get to the Whomping Willow.  
  
It'd been four months since we became Animagi. (It was January.) We loved visiting Remus. Just recently we decided to go into Hogsmeade with him. Tomorrow would be our test. I went to bed eagerly awaiting the next day.  
  
**Lily's POV**  
  
Professor Dumbledore called a Prefects' meeting today. (Yesterday was the day I was disfigured.) Remus wouldn't be coming. (Remus and I had been chosen as Prefects). It was a Saturday, exactly one month before Valentine's Day. The Head Boy, Curtis MacMillan, from Hufflepuff and the Head Girl, Rose Janifer (Emily's sister), from Gryffindor, stood up. Curtis had brown hair that was cut short, and Rose had blonde hair and blue eyes like Emily.  
  
Rose spoke first. "On Valentine's Day, four Saturdays from now, we'll be having a ball for fourth years and up."  
  
"We will be having a Hogsmeade trip just the week before," added Curtis. "It will be a normal Hogsmeade trip for the third years, but it will be a chance to get anything you need if you're fourth year and up."  
  
"Prefects will announce it to their house today," added Rose. "Oh, and by the way, Prefects will have to open up the ball, so for example, Lily, you'll open up with Remus but then you'd go dance with your real dance partner. Like, I would have to dance with Curtis to open up, but then I'd go to my soon-to-be-date Shawn Rosenthall." All the girls except me giggled. Apparently Shawn Rosenthall was a good-looking guy (I'd say so too) but he's a useless pretty boy in my opinion.  
  
Curtis turned to me with a slight frown. "Be sure to notify Remus." I nodded.  
  
All the Prefects left. I headed straight to the Hospital Wing, but Remus wasn't there. Whatever.  
  
So I headed back to the Gryffindor tower. It wasn't so packed. Emily and Renée were chatting with James and Sirius. I stood up by the fireplace. I called attention.  
  
"I have an announcement," I stated. "Four weeks from today, we will be having a Valentine's Day ball for fourth years and up." The third years groaned. "One week before that, we will have a trip to Hogsmeade." At this, the third years cheered up. "Also, the Prefects will open the ball and then dance with their regular dates." I glanced at Sirius with a look that plainly said, "Meet me ASAP." He nodded and I stepped down.  
  
He walked up to me. "Are you alright? I heard you were disfigured."  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine," I wanted to get to the point. "Um...will you come with me to the ball? Please? Just as a friend?" I added.  
  
He considered it for a moment. "Sure!"  
  
I smiled. But before I could say anything, he said, "Why?"  
  
What was I supposed to say? "Just because..." I began. "Does there have to be a reason to take a friend to a ball?" He looked flattered for a moment, and then frightened.  
  
"No," he said. "There doesn't have to be a reason. But I need to go."  
  
"Can I come with you? Wherever you're going?"  
  
"Um...sure."  
  
I followed him to James, Renée, and Emily. "Where's Remus?" I asked curiously. No one answered. Emily and Renée were looking around as though they had just noticed that he was not there. James and Sirius were keeping suspiciously quiet. Obviously they knew where Remus was, but I wasn't about to put them on-the-spot. Suddenly James looked at me. "Will you go to the ball with me Lily?" He ran his fingers through his hair and gave me a Potter grin. That annoys me so much!  
  
"No," I stated simply.  
  
"Why?" he asked with a frown.  
  
"I'm going with someone else."  
  
"Already?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Who?"  
  
"Someone."  
  
"Who?"  
  
"Why do you care?"  
  
"Just tell me who!" James yelled. Sirius watched fearfully.  
  
"Sirius," I stated with a grin.  
  
"WHAT?" James couldn't believe it. That's what he gets for being an egotistical prat. "When did he ask you?"  
  
"He didn't ask me!" I snapped. "I asked him! And he agreed! Why are you such a moron all the time?"  
  
"I'm not a moron! Sirius knows that he had no right to go to the ball with you—"  
  
"He has as much right as you have!"  
  
"He promised me he wouldn't date you!"  
  
"He's not dating me, you idiot! Stop acting so selfish! I'm just taking him as a friend so just—"  
  
"No! Sirius promised he wouldn't date you!"  
  
"He's not dating me! I just asked him to the ball! As a friend! Stop being a selfish, conceited pain-in-the-neck!" That's exactly what James was acting like.  
  
The whole Common Room was looking at us. This was our first big fight. Yeah, we used to argue about little things but this...this was uncommon.  
  
James looked at me. "You taking him as a friend?"  
  
"Is there an echo in here? YES!"  
  
"Then he has as much right as me to go to the ball with you," James whispered.  
  
"That's what I've been saying." I looked at Renée and Emily. Neither of them had ever seen me so angry. Both looked equally frightened.  
  
"Come on Renée, Emily," I called. I walked up with them to the girls' dormitory.  
  
**James' POV**  
  
I didn't know that Lily was taking Sirius as a friend. Sirius was looking at me. "What? Does the tree eat water?" I asked him. I didn't make any sense. He dragged me to the boys' dormitory.  
  
"Lily asked me right after the announcement," Sirius explained. "Like she wanted to ask me before anybody else did."  
  
"But why did you agree?" I asked him.  
  
"Well..."  
  
I didn't want to get in a fight with Sirius. We never had one before. So I kept my cool, even though he knew how bad I was feeling. But I shouldn't feel bad. I get rejected by girls all the time. It was just Lily. She was so beautiful. Well, I can't show it.  
  
"I'm sorry," said Sirius suddenly. I forgave him. The moment was ruined by Arthur Weasley walking in.  
  
"Where've you been?" I demanded.  
  
"I was just...well..." he stammered.  
  
"Was it Molly?" I interrupted.  
  
He looked at me like "how did you know?" and nodded.  
  
"HA!" yelled Sirius rolling around on the floor. "What did she do?" he asked suddenly.  
  
"She...she..."  
  
"Did you kiss?" I asked. I had kissed many girls before, but none of them felt right, so I stopped with the kissing in fourth year. I was saving my best kiss for the right girl (Lily).  
  
"Um...yeah." He looked at me like "you're psychic!" and I gave him a look saying "I know I am." Sirius was laughing hysterically, rolling on the floor.  
  
"It's not that funny Sirius," I called to him.  
  
"I know!" shrieked Sirius. "I was just thinking of a Muggle joke Petunia told me when we first met!"  
  
"Yeah?" said Arthur.  
  
"Yeah! Why did the chicken cross the road?"  
  
Me and Arthur looked stumped.  
  
Then Sirius yelled, "TO GET TO THE OTHER SIDE!" and he was roaring with laughter, sprawled on the floor.  
  
That wasn't that funny. Where do Muggles come up with these things? Suddenly, I remembered that we had Quidditch practice. "C'mon Sirius! Quidditch!" I was Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team and I played the position of Seeker. Sirius played Chaser. He was actually pretty good. The other Chasers were Renée Morgan and Rita Skeeter. The Keeper was a fourth year called Jason Wood and he was the best Keeper I had ever seen. The Beaters were Gideon and Fabian Prewett, sixth year twins, and Molly Prewett' brothers. (Molly was the girl that Arthur is dating.) Both Gideon and Fabian had vivid red hair as well. They were awesome Beaters. The Gryffindor Quidditch team has won the Quidditch cup for three years straight.  
  
The rest of the team was already there and so all I had to do was release the Snitch and Bludgers and Quaffle and we had an awesome training session.  
  
**Emily's POV**  
  
I have never seen Lily so upset. Renée and I tried to calm her down, but she still kept ranting on about Potter. "Why is that Potter always in my face? Why is he a moron? Why does he like me? I probably wouldn't be so mad at him if he stopped acting like such an egotistical prat who hexes everyone in his line of vision. Especially Snape! What did he do to them? What is Potter's problem!"  
  
"Cool it!" I advised. She seemed to cool down instantly. She told me once that I'm like the only person that is able to calm her down. I didn't think that it would come in handy. Suddenly Renée got up and walked out saying, "Quidditch practice."  
  
**James' POV**  
  
Lily and the ball were driven out of my mind by Sirius reminding me about the full moon. "Oh yeah...." We collected Peter from the Slytherin dungeons, crawled down to the Entrance Hall and checked the Marauder's Map. There was a little dot hurrying across the grounds. It was Snivellus! What was he doing? "Sirius," I choked, "what's Snape doing?"  
  
"Oh, that git?" Sirius said carelessly. "I told him how to get to Remus. He was interested. I told you I got payback for Lily."  
  
"You WHAT?" I roared. Sirius was the git in this story. I threw off the Invisibility Cloak and grabbed the Marauder's Map before either could stop me. I chased after Snape. I saw the Whomping Willow in the distance. It was whacking its arms everywhere. Suddenly, it stopped. I was getting closer. I could make out Snape entering the little hole in the willow. I ran as fast as I could. Snape couldn't see. He wasn't allowed to see. To know. I had to stop him. He could get hurt, or bitten. I ran like my life depended on it. Finally I reached and I entered the Whomping Willow.  
  
I still ran until I saw Snape walking towards the door. I could hear Remus howling, clawing, scratching...I yelled to Snape, "No!" because he was about to turn the knob. I grabbed him away but I knew he had seen...Remus was coming. I levitated Snape before he could protest and I ran back to the castle. I checked the Marauder's Map. Remus was stuck in the Whomping Willow; he hadn't got out of the Shrieking Shack. I checked the Marauder's Map again, more slowly in the castle. I levitated Snape to Dumbledore's office on the second floor. Snape was flailing in every direction.  
  
"Stop your yapping before I transfigure you into a teapot," I snapped.  
  
I ran to Dumbledore's office. There was a stone gargoyle, no doubt concealing the entrance, but there was no need for me to figure out the password, because Dumbledore, Sirius, and Peter were standing, waiting for me.  
  
Dumbledore recited the password to the stone gargoyle ("sugar quill!") and led the four of us inside (Snape was still levitated yelling for me to let him down). He sat down at his chair and motioned for us to sit too. I dropped Snape and he fell on his bottom on a chair.  
  
"Mr. Snape, what did you see at the end of the tunnel?" asked Dumbledore calmly.  
  
"I saw—I saw...a WEREWOLF!" yelled Snape. "Remus Lupin is a WEREWOLF!"  
  
"Now, Mr. Snape. I need to impress upon you the consequences of this. You must not tell anybody. You must—not—tell—a—soul. Now, you will receive two weeks of detention."  
  
Snape mouthed wordlessly at Dumbledore. But Dumbledore was looking at me. "I must thank you for going into that tunnel and bringing out Mr. Snape. The consequences would have been disastrous if Mr. Lupin had gotten to Mr. Snape first."  
  
"You're welcome," I said.  
  
Dumbledore turned to Sirius with a look of disappointment on his face, the usual twinkle in his eyes was gone. Sirius looked to his shoes. "Mr. Black, I hope you understand the consequences of your actions. You have done some thing extremely serious—" the twinkle appeared for a moment and then disappeared, "—and Mr. Snape could have been killed. You shall have to receive some punishment. You shall be suspended from school for two weeks. And you shall lose 150 points from Gryffindor."  
  
Sirius looked like he didn't expect anything less. But I can't believe he would do something as dangerous as tell Snape how to get into the Whomping Willow.  
  
"Mr. Snape, remember...do—not—tell—a—soul."  
  
And with that, Dumbledore dismissed us from his office.  
  
**Lily's POV  
**  
I heard that Snape almost got killed for something Sirius told him to do. I almost decided to not go to the ball with him, as punishment, but then I heard that he had been suspended for two weeks. Poor guy.  
  
And Emily told me that Renée heard from Remus who had it from James that Sirius only told Snape because Snape disfigured me. So I figured...why not go with him?  
  
Sirius came back a day before the Hogsmeade trip. We were all so excited to see him again, we gave him a small welcoming party.  
  
**A/N: Did you like that chapter? Personally, I thought it wasn't that great of an ending. Oh well. Please read and review.**


	9. Hogsmeade and Fireworks

**A/N: I'm not sure I'm going to be updating for a while so here's chapter 9...  
  
Chapter Nine: Hogsmeade and Fireworks  
  
Lily's POV**  
  
I couldn't wait for Hogmeade! I love that place! Emily, Renée and I were happily making our way to Robe Corner. That was the place to go if you wanted the hottest, "in" robes. We filled up our money bags in Gringotts and entered Robe Corner. We each headed to our favorite part of the store. I searched high and low and suddenly, I saw it. A beautiful robe of white with emeralds and crystals embedded in it. (They stones weren't real.) It was sleeve-less with thin, one centimeter straps. It went down to my knees and fitted my body perfectly. I had to admit, I think Sirius would like me in this dress. Emily bought a lovely sky blue dress that matched her eyes perfectly. It had white and dark blue sequins on it and whoever she was taking to the ball would be smitten with her. Renée had bought a lovely purple dress that was plain, but made of satin and it shimmered with many shades of purple and it went down to a little above her knees. I knew that Remus was going with her.  
  
"Emily, who're you going with?" I asked. She looked lovestruck for a moment, and then said, "James."  
  
"The James Potter? Are we talking about the same James?"  
  
"Yes..."  
  
I shook my head. "Your decision."  
  
We went to buy our jewelry and makeup.  
  
Shopping in Hogsmeade is always fun. We always finish the day off with Butterbeer in The Three Broomsticks. It's just wonderful.  
  
**Sirius' POV**  
  
We walked into the Three Broomsticks to meet the girls. That's how it always had been ever since we all got permission to go to Hogsmeade. We would meet here with the girls. Unless one of us had a date. Like James did today with Kaitlyn Bhurah, a Hufflepuff. She was cute, and always taken. She and her little group of girls were like a girl version of us (James and I)...total daters. But James and I've quit dating for a while. Only occasionally we have a date. James just wanted one so he didn't have to talk to Lily. Poor girl.  
  
Us, the Marauders went to Zonko's first, because we already had all our dress robes. Mine were blue, Prongs' were chocolate brown, Moony's were red, and Wormtail's were purple. I wanted to have a peek at what Lily was buying but Zonko's completely blew that out of my mind. We each bought two bags full of prank items and then traveled to the Three Broomsticks.  
  
Lily, Emily, and Renée were already there, chatting away about who-knows- what. James went to his own table and the rest of us, Moony, Wormtail and I sat at Lily's table. We didn't have to wear our school uniforms on weekends, but the girls were anyway.  
  
"Hey Sirius," greeted Lily.  
  
"Hi all!" sang Renée.  
  
Madam Rosy, Rosmerta Linch(a second year Gryffindor)'s mother, came up to our table and asked us what we would like.  
  
"Six butterbeers, please," said Remus.  
  
"Comin' right up!" sang Madam Rosy.  
  
In no time, she brought six Butterbeers. "That'll be twelve Sickles please!"  
  
We each drew out two Sickles and she happily collected them from each of us. We chatted as we drank, mostly about the upcoming ball.  
  
"Who're each of you taking?" asked Emily.  
  
"Well, I'm taking Sirius," laughed Lily.  
  
"I'm going with Remus!" sighed Renée. "Who's going with Potter?"  
  
I had no answer to this question, because James didn't tell me. But I didn't have to answer anyway, because Kaitlyn Bhurah and James came up to us. "I'm going with Kaitlyn!" he stated. She gave him a quick kiss and they wandered off to who-knows-where.  
  
Lily piped up. "Emily, who're you going with?"  
  
But Emily looked furious. "James said he was taking me! Now he says he's taking that—that—that Kaitlyn!"  
  
"Calm down Emily!" soothed Lily. "Potter has always been like that. I'd just been stupid not to notice it before. Don't worry, we'll show him that he can't cheat on you like that."  
  
James wouldn't do such a thing. What's gone wrong with him? Has Kaitlyn been mixing up love potions? Even us, the Marauders, rule-breakers extraordinaires, would never do anything banned or illegal. I stated this theory of love potions to Remus and he said, "You know, I wouldn't be surprised if that was true..." and he gave a thoughtful look.  
  
Lily glanced at me. "How can you be friends with a jerk like that?"  
  
"I know James," I replied, "and James would never do something like that. I think Kaitlyn is the wrongdoer in this case. She might've been mixing up love potions.  
  
"Oh! On Potter's side now!—"  
  
"Lily calm down!" soothed Emily. Lily calmed down at once.  
  
**Emily's POV**  
  
I can't believe that James! He said he was going to the ball with me! But I've read about love potions. They don't last very long. It should be off by tomorrow. I'll just wait until then.  
  
**Lily's POV**  
  
How can that (bad name) do that to Emily? Well, don't worry Emily! You will get your revenge!  
  
As soon as we got back from Hogsmeade, Renée, Emily and I decided to pull a prank on Potter. One that he wouldn't Forget. What should we do? When Potter was in bed, we sneaked up into their dormitory and decided to have a look around. Emily said not to because "James" should be out of the potion by tomorrow, if there was a potion. Emily's too forgiving. But that's Emily for you. We decided, "Oh well, too bad for Potter," and we searched in his dormitory anyway. He left his trunk wide open. There were two full Zonko bags. I took those out and then underneath them, there didn't seem to be any trunk at all. Just the floor. Peculiar. I touched it and I felt something soft. I took it out. "Hey!" I whispered. "Potter has an Invisibility Cloak!"  
  
"I never knew!" said Renée in awe.  
  
"Wow!" said Emily. "So this is how he manages so many pranks without being seen."  
  
"Yeah..." I was thinking... "this could come in handy for us maybe. Probably not tonight though."  
  
I put a Sleeping Charm on the boys ("Dormirio!") and I rummaged in the Zonko bags. There was a long, lethal looking stick, somewhat like the one that Sirius threatened with the Dursleys, dungbombs, and two crates of Filibuster's fireworks.  
  
"Look what I found!" I called.  
  
We all decided that the Filibuster's fireworks would do the job, along with the Invisibility Cloak. What we would do is lift the Sleeping Charm on James only, and don the Invisibility Cloak.  
  
Then we would release some fireworks in James' bed and close the curtains. He would hopefully come out and then we would release more. We would empty the crates, escape in the confusion with the Invisibility Cloak, and have a nice laugh. It was the perfect plan. So that's exactly what we did. We lifted the Sleeping Charm, "Finite!" on James only.  
  
Then we all hid under the Invisibility Cloak with some fireworks in hand. We opened James' curtains. He was still sleeping so soundly. We let one firework loose. It was a large Catherine wheel. I spun around James and he woke up, looked around frightened, saw the Catherine wheel, picked up his wand, and started curse everything in sight. He came within five feet of Emily.  
  
We released the whole carton. All the loose fireworks, Catherine wheels, colors, sparks, and all the other fireworks whizzed around James. He was shrieking like a girl the whole way through. He was jumping around in circles, and clearly wondering why the other three hadn't woken up yet.  
  
It was quite amusing to see a six-foot-tall guy jumping around like a six- year-old. When the fireworks dimmed down a bit, we released the other carton. James was blasted completely by the next carton. Emily, Renée and I quickly walked out of the dormitory with the Invisibility Cloak and nearly ran straight into a crowd that appeared in the Common Room. "Uh oh..."  
  
Everyone else in the Gryffindor Tower had obviously heard James' yells (except for Sirius, Remus, and Arthur) and rushed into the Common Room where they would be comforted by Prefects. Unfortunately, neither Prefect was "present." I was there, but under the Invisibility Cloak. We went to a dark corner and then took off and folded the Cloak. I rushed to the head of the crowd. "People people! Calm down! I shall see what the disturbance is. Unfortunately, the other Prefect is not present so I shall have to take my friends with me. Emily! Renée!" They came and we went to see what the disturbance was. We were cracking up!  
  
We walked into the boys' dormitory with James still dancing around and yelling. We were on the verge of laughing but we stopped ourselves in time. "What seems to be the problem?" I asked. "The entire Gryffindor Tower is in the Common Room, wondering what the noise is."  
  
"It's these—these fireworks!" James exploded. "Somehow they've released themselves!"  
  
"I wonder how that could've happened," stated Renée.  
  
"Well, that was a waste of money," decided James, when the last of the fireworks finally died down. "I could have sworn—"  
  
"Tsk, tsk," Sirius had woken up. "It's rude to swear."  
  
"Shut up!" snapped James. "You weren't victim to these da fireworks!"  
  
"So?"  
  
"Just—!"  
  
"Is everything cleared up?" I interrupted.  
  
"Yes,"snapped James. "Just go!"  
  
We went downstairs, giggling quietly.  
  
"Everything is fine upstairs!" I announced. "It seems that James Potter had opened a crate of fireworks. He was fighting them and that was all the noise you heard."  
  
Finally, the lot went to bed. We did too. It was nice to have a good- night's sleep.  
  
**James' POV**  
  
Stupid fireworks! Anyway, in the morning when I woke up, it was time for pranks, but there was only one problem.  
  
"What's that James?" asked Sirius.  
  
"My Invisibility Cloak's gone missing!" I yelled.  
  
"Well, that shouldn't be too hard," said Sirius. "I mean...Invisibility Cloak."  
  
"You know what I mean...!"  
  
"You shouldn't always think that Prongsie, it could get you hurt."  
  
"Shut up Padfoot."  
  
At breakfast, when the usual post owls arrived, mine arrived with a large package. There was no note. I opened it up, and there was my Invisibility Cloak. "Look Sirius! The robber returned it!"  
  
Now it was time fore pranks. There was definitely going to be one for Kaitlyn, how dare she give me a love potion! I didn't know what it made me do, but Kaitlyn told me she'd made a love potion and that she'd meet me on Saturday, the day of the dance. Idiot girl. Why would I go to the ball with her?  
  
At breakfast, things didn't go too well with Emily. "Hey Emily!" I called.  
  
"Hi jerk," she had replied.  
  
"Wha—did I do something wrong?"  
  
"I dunno, ask yourself," she said coldly.  
  
"Um..."  
  
Suddenly she erupted. "Why did you cheat on me?" she sobbed.  
  
"I didn—oh."  
  
"What happened?" she was still sobbing.  
  
"Um...yesterday Kaitlyn gave me a love potion."  
  
She stopped sobbing immeadiately. "HA! I knew it," she shrieked with an angry expression on her face.  
  
"And I don't know what happened..."  
  
"Well, you were going to the ball with her and then you left me alone!"  
  
"Sorry. I'm going to the ball with you now right?"  
  
"Right," she'd said, but she still seemed slightly upset.  
  
**A/N: Was that a bad ending? Well, you've read, so review please! **


	10. The Dance

**A/N: This is probably the last chapter I'll post for like a month, so enjoy! Read and please review...!  
  
Thanks to all my reviewers:  
  
Tekvah Ariel:** Emily doesn't hurt people with violence. But thanks for the suggestion...I might use it...somewhere... And you'll find out about the name in a later chapter.  
  
**rc17:** I won't be on for about a month, so here's chapter ten!  
  
**Silver Streak:** No, actually, I don't have a thing for Pringles, but it was the first thing that popped into my head when I was writing it.  
  
**Thanks to anyone else I missed! Onto the story!...  
  
Chapter Ten: The Dance  
  
James' POV  
**  
The dance was coming up tonight and I was really looking forward to it. But the dance didn't seem so important compared to what Remus reminded me. "James, I'm going to have to miss the dance tonight. It's the full moon and I..."  
  
"Oh my god Remus, I forgot!" I really did Forget.  
  
"Well, you are coming right?"  
  
"Yeah!"  
  
That seemed to be good enough for Remus. He walked over to Sirius who had the same reaction as me. "WHAT?"  
  
Well, we got together in the boys' dormitory and thought it over. "Sirius, you and I will at least see what the dance looks like. Then, we'll grab Peter and join you Remus."  
  
"Right. But I don't know how long you will take in the dance."  
  
"Remus, don't you remember that Prefects have to open the dance?—"  
  
"Oh yeah! Oh well. I can't."  
  
"Yeah. See you tonight."  
  
**Lily's POV  
**  
The dance is tonight! I can't wait! I'm really excited. My white dress will go great with the diamond and emerald necklace that my mother sent me. It's beautiful! The four of us in the girls' dormitory, Renée, Emily, Rita Skeeter, and I were getting ready to go with each of the Marauders (that's what Potter, Sirius, Remus, and Peter called themselves). Renée with Remus, Emily with Potter, Rita with Peter, and Sirius with me. I was excited.  
  
We all dressed in our dresses and made a grand entrance downstairs. Sirius was looking happy, Potter was awed, Remus wasn't there yet. I smiled. Rita ran out the portrait hole mumbling something about meeting Peter. The rest of us traveled down, Renée looking around for Remus. I had to dance with him later for the opening of the dance but I was too excited to wonder where he was.  
  
We made it inside the Great Hall, which looked magnificent. Everything was sparkling and glittering. Dumbledore made an announcement saying that the Prefects were to go meet him, so I left the group and wandered over to him.  
  
"Where's Remus?" I asked Dumbledore, but he didn't hear me. I didn't have anyone to dance with. Suddenly the music started and I was pushed onto the dance floor. I quickly made my way around the crowd, looking for Sirius, so I could at least dance with him. He was nowhere in sight. Renée was wandering around and so was Emily and Rita. I couldn't find Peter either, so I finally decided to look for Potter but he was nowhere in sight either.  
  
This was weird. None of the Marauders? They're probably gonna pull a prank...and I don't want to be a victim.  
  
**James' POV**  
  
Lily was called by Dumbledore over with the rest of the Prefects. This was the time to make our getaway. Sirius, Peter and I ran outside and out to the Whomping Willow. We all transformed into our animagi forms. Padfoot threw a stick at the tree. It started thrashing away immeadiately. Wormtail ran up the tree and pushed the knot. The tree stopped. We all made our way into the entrance toward the Shrieking Shack.  
  
When we got there, it was empty. Remus wasn't there. This wasn't safe. Where was he?  
  
**Remus' POV**  
  
I was waiting in the Hospital Wing for Padfoot, Prongs, and Wormtail. They didn't show up. I was upset but nonetheless Madam Pescil accompanied me to the Shrieking Shack. Well, she left me at the entrance. When I got there, the moon showed and I transformed.  
  
It was so painful. My limbs were changing shape and growing more hair and my face was twisted and everything finally set, but I was dangerous. Then I saw Padfoot and Prongs and then Wormtail. I felt better. But then I suddenly smelt of whiff of human scent. There was a human about. Immeadiately, I went in search of it.  
  
**Lily's POV**  
  
I decided to take a walk outside. It was nice out and I didn't want to be part of the prank fest that the Marauders were obviously planning. I wandered over by a huge tree. It was the Whomping Willow. It was thrashing around so I didn't get too close. But then, at the foot of the tree, something was emerging. There was a hole in the Willow and through it came a werewolf!  
  
**James' POV**  
  
Remus looks like he's smelled something. Oh no! Remus ran out of the Shrieking Shack and through the tunnel. I followed him because the only way he acts like this is if he smells human flesh. Padfoot was behind me. Remus was stuck in the exit out of the Willow. We caught up to him and almost brought him back with our combined strength, but Moony slipped out of our grip.  
  
The only thing we could do now was to stop him from biting. We dashed out of the Whomping Willow behind him and saw who he was chasing after. It was Lily! I had to save her.  
  
Sirius pounced on Moony and got entangled in a fight. I charged Moony down into the hole. Moony was flailing and scratching everything. His claws came in contact with my cheek. A fierce pain erupted on my face.  
  
**Lily's POV**  
  
The werewolf was charged down by a beautiful white glistening horse and a brilliant shaggy black dog that looked somewhat like the Grim. But if the werewolf and the horse could see it, then it was probably not the Grim. The werewolf was pushed back in through the entrance of the Whomping Willow and the dog went in too, probably to keep the werewolf in check. But the horse was limping slowly towards me. Then, I realized it wasn't a horse. It wasn't a deer. It was a stag. A glistening white stag. I reached to pet it because it just saved my life.  
  
It collapsed in my arms. I stroked the beautiful animal. It's wonderful chocolate brown eyes peered up at me with longing and I had the strange feeling that I'd seen those eyes before...but on who?  
  
I pushed that to the back of my mind and gazed back at the wonderous stag and its chocolate brown eyes. But then it did something that startled the wits out of me. It changed. The stag was changing shape.  
  
That beautiful stag was changing until I was holding in my arms, James Potter. He looked so tired and he seemed unconscious. I was so startled that I just dropped him and he fell to the ground in a crumpled heap. I didn't understand what just happened, so I just...I just ran away from there. I just left Potter lying there.  
  
I was at the door, just at the entrance of the castle, not too far from the Whomping Willow. I didn't understand what had just happened. James was a...a...an Animagus. Obviously. But what was he doing? Suddenly, it struck me. James was unconscious. I had to help him.  
  
Fast as a stag, I ran back to where James lay. He was stirring. "Ohhh...wha..." then he caught sight of me, "Lily! What happened? Are you okay? Last I remember I was forcing Re—that werewolf back into the Whomping Willow with Si—that dog's help. And then...oh yeah...I was in your lap...and I don't really remember..."  
  
I couldn't say anything. My mouth wasn't obeying. I wanted to ask him all sorts of things like, "how did you become an Animagus?" and "why were you here now? With a werewolf?"  
  
So I just asked him, "What happened?"  
  
"Um..."  
  
"Well, I figured out that you're an unregistered Animagus because you sort of transformed from a stag to you in my lap and scared the wits out of me."  
  
"Sorry."  
  
"What for?" What was he apologizing for? "You just saved my life! I should be thanking you! And you're apologizing to me? As if you have to!"  
  
"Sorry."  
  
Okay, that's annoying.  
  
"I'm just sorry," he sighed. "I feel that this is all my fault."  
  
"'S'okay James." I leaned down and helped him up. He seemed a bit shaky so I let him use me for support. Together, we trudged back up to the castle. I felt good. I had helped someone. And it was an enemy. My mom always used to say that helping an enemy is the biggest sign of strength. I had helped my worst enemy, and I pleased my mom (A/N: remember, her mom's dead). James seemed happy too, but that was obvious. He had a crush on me, so it would just be expected for him to like this. Whatever.  
  
"Flutterbyes," I recited. It was the password into the Prefects' room. I wanted to go there while James rested, because I didn't want him to be leaning on me as we walked into the Common Room. He seemed to understand why we were at the Prefects' room, because he didn't ask any questions.  
  
"This is a nice place you've got here," he stated, admiring the room.  
  
"Yeah," I responded.  
  
His eyes landed on me and locked with mine. For a minute it seemed as if he was in bliss, just looking at my eyes. That's what my dad used to say: "Lily flower, you're eyes are so beautifully emerald, I feel in bliss." My mom used to say, "Lils, your eyes are my best emeralds." Tears welled up in my eyes, thinking about them. James seemed to have noticed, because he looked away.  
  
Then he said, "I'm an Animagus,"  
  
"I thought I already told you that I knew that..." I responded.  
  
"Well, whatever."  
  
"I wanted to know...why were you out there tonight?"  
  
"Well, I guess I'd better tell you that Pad—Sirius and W—Peter are Animagus too. Sirius was the dog and Peter is a rat, but you didn't see Peter today."  
  
"I saw the moon today. Does that have anything to do with Remus not being an Animagus?"  
  
"Um...yeah."  
  
"He's a werewolf isn't he?"  
  
"Yeah," sighed James, but then he suddenly became alert. "Make sure that you don't tell a soul about that. If word gets out I'll know it was you. And I will personally make sure..." he looked really angry.  
  
"I swear! I won't tell!"  
  
James backed off. "Good."  
  
But I was still confused about one last thing: "But why did you three become Animagi? Isn't that illegal if you don't register?"  
  
"Yeah..." James sighed, "I'd better start from the beginning. You see, in first and second year, Remus disappeared once a month and we didn't know where he went. And he'd made stupid excuses. So naturally, we'd get curious. And in third year we figured it out. And we decided to become Animagi. We managed it in our fifth year."  
  
"But why did you do it? Didn't you know that you were risking getting arrested?"  
  
"Yeah, but see...these werewolf transformations are painful so we were helping him by being there for him."  
  
What he said touched me. He did have a heart after all. For that one moment, I though of him as a real human being, not just the pain-in-the- neck that he always is.  
  
"Come sit here," he called. I sat next to him. "Would you do something illegal for a friend?" he questioned.  
  
"Well, yeah, I guess, I mean..." but my next words were drowned out by James, who was leaned in and almost kissed me. And me, being the sister of Petunia, used my reflexes and slapped him. Not too hard, but hard enough to make sure he didn't do it again.  
  
"Sorry," I said. "Don't do that again," I added warningly.  
  
He nodded with a look that said quite plainly, "don't worry, I won't."  
  
"So how're you feeling?" I asked in a much nicer tone.  
  
"Great, apart from the fact that you just slapped me. Boy you have a strong arm!"  
  
"I'm a girl, just to tell you..."  
  
"Okay, girl you have a strong arm!"  
  
"Good. Let's go!" I tried to help him up but he shook me off and stood up himself.  
  
"I told you I was feeling 'great'" he replied and walked out of the Prefects' Common Room by himself. Then on a happier note he added, "I had a nice time Lily, and I'm sorry about..."  
  
"Yeah, 's'okay. And it was fun, except for yeah that one part..."  
  
"Oh yeah, one last thing. We don't talk about tonight to anyone. Not even our friends, well, I can tell mine 'cause, yeah. But who knows about yours Lily, no offense or anything...."  
  
"Oh none taken! And yeah I know. I won't say a word about tonight. If anyone asks, I was with Sirius, and Sirius was with me. Renée knows that Remus wouldn't be there, right?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"But what about Emily...?"  
  
"Oops."  
  
"You didn't tell her?"  
  
"Well..."  
  
"Arrgh! Potter!"  
  
"What? She won't do anything! I mean, this is Emily..."  
  
"Yeah...well...let's go!" And I led Jam—no—Potter to the Gryffindor Common Room. It was empty except for Sirius.  
  
"Hey Sirius!" called James quietly. Sirius waved us over.  
  
"Ooh...what's been going on?" asked Sirius playfully.  
  
"Nothing!" I replied heatedly.  
  
"Uh huh, sure."  
  
"Honestly! Tell him Ja—Potter!"  
  
"Actually Sirius, a lot happened tonight. We did a lot of sno—"  
  
I cut in, "Liar! This is why I hate you!"  
  
"Sorry..."  
  
In the meantime, Sirius was laughing away.  
  
I went up to the girls' dormitory and two out of only four beds were empty. One was mine and the other was...Emily's? Where'd she go? Renée suddenly pulled open her hangings. "Lily! There you are! I was wondering where you'd been! I spent the whole night with Kevin Rosenthall! You know, Shawn Rosenthall's brother. It was great! He is sooooo hot! Oh my god! And he is sooooo not the pretty boy that Shawn is, I mean, he's really knows how to bring livelyness! He just—"  
  
"That's great Renée!" I interrupted. "Where's Emily?"  
  
"Oh she went somewhere, looking for James I think. Well, anyway, Mike just—"  
  
"Where'd she go?"  
  
"Who? So anyway, Mike just—"  
  
"Emily. Where'd she go?"  
  
"Dunno, like I said, somewhere. So anyway, Mike just—"  
  
"I got something interesting to tell you Renée."  
  
"That's nice, so anyway, Mike just—wait, did you say interesting? We only use that word when we really mean it."  
  
"And I do."  
  
"So what'd you do tonight?" questioned Renée interestedly.  
  
"I was..." I remembered myself saying "if anyone asks, I was with Sirius," and I continued, "well, I'll tell you Renée, only if you don't tell a soul, living or dead. No one. I don't want word to get out. You'll see why in a moment. And as soon as I tell you, you Forget, okay?"  
  
"Okay..." said Renée, leaning in. "What is it?"  
  
"Well, I'll start from the beginning. You see, I took a walk outside and I saw...Ja—Potter and Sirius and Sirius went away and Potter and me went to the Prefect Common Room and we talked—"  
  
"Wait, rewind! You talked to James Potter?"  
  
"Yeah...and then—"  
  
"Really!"  
  
"Yeah...and then he tried to k—and then he left with me and we came here and...here we are."  
  
But Renée had already fallen asleep, and so I did too.  
  
**Remus' POV**  
  
I still can't believe I almost bit Lily! I feel so bad! Thank GOD James and Sirius were there. I wonder where that rat Peter went yesterday. Well, anyway, today at breakfast, I was snapped out of my thoughts.  
  
"James!" a voice screeched. James whipped his head around to see Emily storming towards him. I was right next to him and it was not a pretty sight.  
  
"James!" shrieked Emily again. Almost the whole hall had turned to watch what was going on. "HOW COULD YOU LEAVE ME AT THE BALL BY MYSELF!!! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'D DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT TO ME!" This didn't sound like the normal Emily. This was the Emily that you'd see when she was really angry about something.  
  
"Um..." James said meekly.  
  
"UM! THAT'S ALL YOU CAN SAY? I BET YOU WERE OUT WITH SOME GIRL, SPENDING THE NIGHT DOING NAUGHTY THINGS WHILE I WAS STUCK IN THE HOSPITAL WING BECAUSE YOU'RE GIRLFRIEND, KAITLYN BHURAH HEXED ME COMPLETELY!—"  
  
"Well, I was..."  
  
"WELL, AT LEAST I KNOW THAT YOU WEREN'T SPENDING THE TIME WITH BHURAH—"  
  
"Yeah..."  
  
"YEAH! YOU WERE WITH BHURAH?!"  
  
"No! Yeah as in yeah, I wasn't with Bhurah! I hate her!"  
  
"BUT YOU STOOD ME UP! YOU SO WERE WITH ANOTHER GIRL!"  
  
"I...um...no, I wasn't...um..."  
  
"Um, Um, UM! IS THAT ALL YOU CAN SAY?!"  
  
"Sorry?" James looked completely scared. He didn't know what to do. I, of course, knew that he'd been protecting Lily, but I didn't know what happened after that. James was trying to tell me when Emily showed up.  
  
Suddenly, Emily rounded on Lily. "Lily!" she screeched. "WHERE WERE YOU?"  
  
"I was...I was..." Lily looked like she was thinking of an excuse. Obviously, James and Lily were together. "I was with Sirius!" she said, brightening up. At least she knew she was out of trouble.  
  
"I hate you James!" sobbed Emily. "How could you do that to me? You completely stood me up and now you can't think of a good enough excuse!"  
  
And with that, Emily exited the Great Hall. Everyone went back to their usual chitter-chatter. Lily yelled to James, "Why didn't you tell Emily that you weren't going to be at the ball?"  
  
"I...I...forgot?"  
  
"Arrgh! James Potter! This is why I dislike you!"  
  
I decided go back to our regular conversation. "Hey, James!" I snapped him out of his thoughts. "What happened last night? I just remember being pushed back into the Willow and then...?"  
  
"Oh yeah!" said James, suddenly becoming more happy. "You see," he added in a quieter voice, "I spent the night with Lily Evans. Yeah, you see, I was exhausted—"  
  
"Sorry—" I interrupted.  
  
"'S okay Moony, but anyway, then Lily's like, stroking me and I fall unconscious, then I'm stirring again, and Lily's still there! Well, she probably left and came back, but still. And then, um...Lily took me to the Prefects' Common Room and we talked. And...I almost kissed her. But she slapped me and I apologized and yeah. Well, that was it, but for one night, we were civil to each other!"  
  
"That's great!"  
  
"I know!"  
  
And James and Sirius talked about girls all the way to Charms.  
  
**A/N: That was the stupidest ending I've ever written in my entire life. Ok, so please read and review!**


End file.
